Giving Faith
by Sakura Uchiha1115
Summary: His decission affected everyone he knew, as did the letter concerning his destiny. Leaving behind more things then one, what happens to everyone when he's gone? Especially Hinata. NaruHina oneshot hints of NejiTen, ShikaTem, and SasuSaku


_**Faith, inspiration, admiration, strength, determination, and perseverance. They represented all this and more. In their eyes they were perfect for each other. In some others eyes, they were both never meant to be.**_

* * *

"_Hey, Hina-chan?" Naruto called out to the blue haired woman behind him._

"_W-what is it, N-Naruto-kun?" she stammered, trying not to look at the scornful looks people gave them as they walked by. _

"_I was just wondering why you would do something like this . . . for me."_

_She smiled at this. "Because . . . because I love you, Naruto-kun." Came her soft response. _

_What he said next surprised her._

"_Hina-chan, what is love?"_

* * *

"Two failures who were trying to change destiny...I never would have believed it if I hadn't see it with my own eyes." Neji murmured to his fiancé.

"Well, I'm not all that shocked. They've come a long way from failures, Neji-kun."

He nodded. "I guess you're right, but their dreams have yet to be fulfilled. He will never be Rokudaime now, and she will not change. You know why, don't you?"

It was her turn to nod. "The nine tails and his love both interfere with their dreams. If she changes she's afraid he might not love her the way he does now. The nine tails is a threat to the village and thus he is unfit to be the Hokage."

"It's a shame really. In the end they have failed and succeeded all at once."

"Oh, and how's that?"

"They are happy together, are they not?"

"Yeah but-"

"Finding each other was a victory in itself. Staying together was a victory as well. Ignoring all the harsh comments. Giving everything up."

"Neji-kun, you're ranting again. I don't see how you could admire them so much and not give a rats ass about our _own_ relationship. You don't say one nice thing about _us_!'

"That is because _you_ are selfish." he stated simply, wishing Tenten was still there. Yes, staying together for them was a victory indeed.

"_Me_? _Selfish_? Well I never! Neji-kun!" she complained, looking up at her soon to be husband. Neji just glared down at her, wondering what it would be like had the mission gone right. Had she survived. Things would definitely be different then. Yes, fate was cruel.

* * *

"Sasuke-kun, why aren't you talking to me?" A now twenty three year old Sakura asked him. He only stared at her.

"It's me, Sasuke-kun; remember? Sakura? Haruno Sakura!" Six years. Six years she'd waited for him. She was eighteen when he'd promised that he would come back for her. That he would one day show her how much he loved her, missed her, needed her. Eleven years since he'd left her to begin with.

She mentally thanked Naruto for bringing Sasuke back to her, despite Sasuke's so called 'promise'. Leaving Hinata for a whole year was hard for him, but he'd done it for her and for Sasuke as well. He had made a promise to her and Naruto, she's learned, never once broke his promises.

"Why?" was the only word that came from his mouth.

Sakura stared. "Why? Why what? Why did I wait for you? Why am I here? Sasuke-kun, please. Tell me."

There was a short pause and then Sasuke finally turned his head towards her and gave a sad, but gentle smile.

"Why do I love her?" he asked.

Sakura froze. "Love...who?"

"That woman...the one...in my dreams..." Sasuke murmured to her, now looking at his lap. Sakura had known all those years with Orochimaru would make him slowly loose his mind, even more then he already had at the time, but she never thought he'd be so broken...

"Oh, Sasuke-kun..." she whispered to herself. No matter what, she promised to always be by his side, no matter what. She would always love him, and so, she chose to take care of him for the rest of her life.

"I love you, Sasuke-kun, my empty little Uchiha..." With that, she got over and walked over to the sink, missing Sasuke's words before he fell into a deep slumber for the day.

"She would always smell of Cherry Blossoms...her name...was..."

Returning to her seat she gazed down at the sleeping boy.

"Thank you so much for bringing back my Sasuke-kun...Naruto-kun...thank you so much for never giving up."

* * *

"_Naruto-kun? What's love?" the confused Hinata repeated._

"_Yes, what is it?"_

"_Well, it's when people have deep feelings of affection for one another." _

"_I see...so you love me, Hina-chan?" _

_Thinking it was strange for him to keep asking her the same question, Hinata repeated herself, a large smile gracing her delicate lips._

"_Yes, I love you very much." _

"_How do you know if love is good or bad?" he didn't look at her, just waited for her answer._

"_W-well...I think love should always be good for people. When you love someone and they love you then there is a feeling of happiness..." _

"_When you love someone, you have to be willing to give everything for that person, right?"_

_There was a brief moment of silence, and then she nodded._

"_Love is not without sacrifice..."_

"_Is that why you did that? Out of your love...for me?" His voice had become low and distant, almost angry. This scared Hinata, but she answered him anyway._

"_Y-yes, I would do a-anything for you."_

"_Do you promise me this, Hina-chan?"_

"_O-of course!" _

"_Then please...go back to them Hina-chan." he smiled warmly now. "Do it for me."_

* * *

"Hm...barely even knew the guy and yet..." Temari looked at her husband, "he brought you straight here..."

"Yeah, Naruto's that type of guy. He helped me get here, but I won't go into details, to troublesome..."

"You lazy ass..." she muttered. "At least _pretend _to be grateful he didn't make you come alone. Thanks to him Gaara didn't rip your head off and allowed the marriage and-"

"Alright already. Fine...I give. He's a great guy. Man, stating the obvious is so troublesome..."

"It's not fair..." she sighed. "Poor thing..."

Shikamaru just looked away at this.

"All his dreams, broken. In one single letter...Konoha must be as stupid as they say."

"Hey!" Shikamaru yelled at her. "They may be making the wrong choice in denying Naruto the title of Rokudaime, but never say something so ignorant again."

She was shocked at his sudden outburst, but nodded her head in understanding. It was after all his hometown. He was leaving them just to be with her. "I'm sorry..."

He didn't say anything, just laid himself down on the couch.

Their relationship wasn't exactly what one would call easy by any means, but they both knew they loved each other and that was enough right? She wasn't one for cheesy cliches, but that's just how it went and she was okay with this.

"I loved them, too...don't forget." his voice rang in her head.

"Yes...I know."

* * *

"Do things really have to be like this?" Kakashi asked himself, looking at a picture of team seven.

Each and everyone of them had made him proud at some point, one less then the rest, but at some point. They were like his family. The only loved ones he had left. Their lives, he knew, were a complete mess, but they'd all managed to stay...a team in some ways.

Sasuke, he'd concluded, probably had some sort of a concussion and would remember everything just fine in about a month or so. He'd also guessed the concussion was an accident of Naruto's when he'd gone to retrieve him.

Sakura, who was using every spare moment of her time to help him, knew this more then likely, but chose the worse case scenario and couldn't believe it. Maybe she wasn't _ready _to face the real Sasuke?

Naruto, out of all his students, could possibly be the saddest. He had not seen or heard from him since he'd learned that the village council refused to allow him to be the Hokage because of the curse of the nine-tails. That was about two months ago. Not even the love of his life, Hinata, knew where he was. She had changed since Naruto had gone. She had become more assertive, and outspoken. If Naruto were there, he would be proud of her. Even if she wasn't on team seven, his heart went out to the raven haired woman.

"Naruto...did you really run away? What on Earth are you doing? Where are you?"

He let out a deep sigh as he sat down into his couch. Even with all the bad things that happened, the suffering that persisted, for the first time being with them at all, Kakashi felt that for once things were truly being established between the now grown teammates.

"Please, make the right decisions.." he silently begged them, knowing that somewhere in their minds, that was also what they prayed for.

* * *

_He was asking her to leave him for them? Right after she'd thrown everything away? Just to be with him?_

"_You promised Hina-chan...please, be happy." Naruto turned to face her, giving her his lopsided grin_.

"_N-Naruto-kun?"_

"_You love your family, right Hina-chan?"_

"_Yes, but-"_

"_You are precious to both them, and me. I want you to hear me, Hina-chan. In two months I will come back and in two months I promise that I **will** be Hokage_. _In two months I want both of us to have our dreams come true. In two months, Hina-chan, I promise, you will be Mrs. Hinata Uzumaki, believe it!"_

_Her eyes began to tear. "Really Naruto-kun?_"

"_Of course! Both our dreams will come true. We won't be branded failures. I'll make you proud, I promise."_

"_Naruto-kun..."_

_Before she got a chance to finish, Naruto had given her a quick peck to her lips and was off in an instant. 'From he moment I knew I loved you, I was proud_ _off everything you were.'_

* * *

"In two months..." she repeated the words over and over in her head. Two months ago today he had promised her this. She'd kept up her end of the promise, now all he had to do was come back and hold up his end.

She believed in the blonde ninja no matter what. The idea that he could be dead never once crossed her mind. She knew he would be back today, and she knew everything he'd said had been true.

Was she being to naive? Maybe, but nothing would ever stop her from placing her complete and total faith in Naruto.

* * *

Alright, I'm stopping it there...end...seriously. Intended one-shot. If you want to you can predict what happens next. Sad ending (turns out Naruto died in some sort of accident and Hinata waits forever for him to return his promise) or happy ending (Naruto returns, marries Hinata, somehow becomes Rokudaime)

I really have no clue where I meant to go with this story, actually. I just wrote it up. If anything is wrong in there or something, please notify me so that I may change it. Thank you. Also, I had to put in a little SasuSaku weirdness, and NejiTen tragedy. Yes...I killed off Tenten (cries in corner) oh well, for the sake of the story I guess.

Regarding reviews, flamers are welcome, constructive criticism is very much appreciated (yes, there's a difference between a flame and constructive criticism) opinions and other things welcome, too..I think...right? Well, hope you liked it anyways. Thanks for reading!

Disclaimer: I do NOT own Naruto.


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